Carlsberg South West division one East

Okehampton Argyle 4

Teignmouth 5

A POOR first half performance was to prove costly for Argyle as they succumbed to only their second home defeat of the season following this nine goal thriller at Simmons Park.

It started oh so well for Argyle; having scored in the first minute in the game at Teignmouth two weeks ago, they went even better by taking the lead after 29 seconds when Ed Squire latched on to Dale Chadwick's through ball and crossed to Jason Cordice, who lashed the ball home off the underside of the Teignmouth crossbar.

That was as good as it got in the opening half for Argyle, as within six minutes Teignmouth were level when Finn Graham found himself free on the left hand edge of the Argyle penalty area and shot low into the bottom corner.

The visitors were now in complete control and took a deserved lead in the 13th minute, albeit in fortunate circumstances, when Sam Chapman's shot took a wicked deflection and looped over a stranded Harry Geering. Chapman gave Teignmouth a two goal cushion ten minutes later when he fired another low shot past Geering from the edge of the penalty area.

In truth Teignmouth could have been out of sight by half time and they should have increased their lead early in the second half but Finn Graham shot high and wide when well placed.

To their credit, Argyle slowly but surely got themselves back into the game and they reduced the arrears in remarkable fashion when Toby Gostling spotted the Teignmouth keeper off his line and lobbed him from fully 40 yards.

However, Teignmouth restored their two goal advantage on the hour when Finn Graham lost his marker to head home Ryan Bush's cross and Bush made it 5-2 ten minutes later when he followed up to score from close range after Harry Geering had done well to save Sam Chapman's initial effort.

With the game seemingly lost, Argyle sent on Ross Voaden who was the catalyst for a late rally from the home side and when his shot was parried by the Teignmouth keeper in the 75th minute, Jason Cordice was on hand to force home the rebound.

Eight minutes later Voaden was fouled after making a surging run into the penalty area and Dale Chadwick rifled the resulting spot kick high into the Teignmouth net to bring Argyle within one goal of earning another point and set up a grandstand finish.

As Argyle laid siege on the Teignmouth goal in search of an equaliser, the visitors held on to take the three points back to Coombe Valley.

Having taken the lead so early in the game, Argyle will rue their first half performance and be left to reflect on another match where they should have come away with a share of the spoils.

l Argyle have no fixture this coming weekend, but the seconds have a home game against local rivals North Tawton, kick-off 2.15pm.